Mine
by im-so-corrupted
Summary: "You're mine, no one else's" - Natsu's going through mating season, and this time he's found his mate. Lucy's confused by his attitude towards her, like he's stalking his prey and enjoying the hunt. Will she escape or fall victim to his antics?
1. Chapter 1

**Mine**

Chapter One

_His eyes transform into slits, it's almost as if he wasn't even human anymore, his breathing ragged. One instinct on his mind. With every step forward he took, she took one back, her heart hammering wildly at the thought of what would happen to her when he caught up to her inevitably due to the fear pumping through her veins creating a level of immobility. The boy she has grown to know inside and out is nowhere to be found, it's his body, his face, but this is not Natsu. It can't be. Lucy is slammed against the wall by the beast in front of her, an insatiable hunger fueling him. Her arms are pinned against the wall, and the sharp claws protruding from his fingers are piercing into her skin. "Natsu-" her cry of pain is cut off when her lips are assaulted with his own. It isn't soft, it isn't caring like she had imagined, it's full of pure and raw carnal desire. His body keeps her trapped against the wall, and the heat radiating from him is nearly too much to bear. He releases her lips, but only to lick the underside of her jaw. She shudders at the feeling, and his breath caresses the side of her neck before nipping at her earlobe, sending shivers down her spine. He kisses down her neck, and sucks at the skin and leaves the spot with a stinging sensation. _

"_Mine." He growls, holding her wrists tighter. She feels him hard against her as his hips ever so slightly push against her, she struggles against him, but can't deny the pooling between her legs. He can smell her arousal and every ounce of him is screaming to take her, but he's begging for himself not to. His canines brush against the skin of her neck, ready to bite down and claim her. Making her be his, and his alone._

Five Days Earlier

"Lucy Kick!" She lands her finishing blow with a look of pride in her face, the gang of bandits Natsu and her were sent to defeat were generally very weak and none used magic, but they had sheer numbers against only two of them. Her sense of victory was soon defeated when two giant burly men, harshly grip both her arms and drag her away from Natsu's line of sight. A hand was clasped tightly over her mouth so she couldn't make a sound, she kicked and screamed against the palm that smelled like moldy food and she had to force herself not to gag. A third man came into view and had a menacing smile on his bearded face, the look in his eye made her indefinitely uneasy. They all had the mark of the gang Natsu and her were just previously beating senseless, and her fear rose higher when her belt with her keys and whip were ripped off and discarded carelessly on the alleyway floor. Lucy remembered for a moment what Aquarius said would happen if she dropped her key again, but that threat didn't scare her nearly as much as the one in front of her in this moment. The way they eyed her, showed clearly what they intended to do.

"What do you think boss, we grab a good one?" The man clamping my mouth and grabbing my arm chuckles darkly with his inquiry. Lucy squirms, her defiant eyes glaring at them. _Natsu will save me, I know he will. _

"I don't know, can't really tell with all these clothes on." He smirks, it widens after his hand goes to Lucy's strapless top, held together with buttons in the middle, and yanks it off. Her eyes widen as tendrils of torn fabric fly everywhere, and the sound of buttons hitting the floor click through the alleyway. She wasn't wearing a bra. Tears prickle at the brims of her eyes, and she tries not to let them fall stubbornly, but they betray her while they stream down her cheeks. She tries to yank her arms away from the two men, but the struggle is frivolous. She's just not strong enough. "Definitely a good one, boys." He then notices her crying, "awe, look, she's shy." The men laugh, and she grits her teeth together. "No need to be shy, dearie, you've got a _great _body." Disgust rises in her and she spits at his face. He wipes it away and takes her breast in his hand, squeezing and playing with it. "Now, now, don't be like that." He made a '_tsk tsk tsk' _sound at her. She swings her leg out and kicks him in the balls, he doubles over in pain. "That's it." He handcuffs each one of her legs to the men standing on either side of her, and a sick smile returns. "There, much better. Oh- wait, can't forget this," he brings out a cloth to gag her, but once the man removes his hand, she screams out the name of the one person she knew could hear her from this far. He forces the cloth into her mouth, tying it around her before backhanding her across the face. Hard.

Her sight becomes blurry for a moment, her brain jumbled from being stricken. The men beside her begin groping her, one grabs her tits roughly and licks his lips at the look of pain on her face. The other grips her ass in his hand, he kneads it and groans, sliding his hand between her cheeks and towards her pussy to rub it. Tears stream harder down her face as she lets out a choked sob. _Please, no._ She pleads in her head; _this can't be happening. Where are you, Natsu? _Her panties get tugged down, and she struggled to get away with every ounce of strength she had. Her face goes white with horror as the third man in front of her unbuckles his belt and unzips his pants. He whips it out and she screams with the gag in her mouth, as loud as she can. "Stop screaming and I'll be gentle. If not, you'll get it rough, little girl." He slides his dick between her legs that were forced apart by the two men on either side. He rubs it against her, hot tears run down her face. She decides to try to scream for Natsu one last time, but then, she doesn't need to.

Natsu hops down from a roof, flames encasing his body in fury. He finally was able to escape their other men, and he came sprinting as fast as he could to find this; Lucy half naked, her ankles bonded and legs forced apart, her mouth gagged, two guys groping her while holding her arms in place, her panties at her knees, and a man in front of her about to take his sweet Lucy's virginity. They're as good as dead. Natsu twists the arm of the man in front of Lucy, and throws his body over his own, slamming it on the concrete. Natsu steps on his throat, "Don't go anywhere, I'm not done with you yet." Venom drips from his voice as he turns to face Lucy and smashes the heads of the two men against the wall at the same time. They both drop to the ground, limp. Natsu bends down and burns through the separate handcuff chains attached to each of her ankles. He turns back around to the man who was about to rape Lucy and his blood boils hotter than it ever has. He grabs the man's hair in his hand and lifts his head up before banging it on the concrete again, he repeated this a few times. All the while he shouted at the long-gone unconscious man, "you thought you could try to do something like that to Lucy and get away with it?! I'm going to make you regret you laid a finger on her." His voice was low and menacing. Natsu decided it would be fun to snap the man's legs and arms, so he did, along with each individual finger. Natsu flips the man over onto his side, his dick is still out and Natsu stomps on it. Once Natsu decides he's done all he wanted to without killing him, even though he desperately wanted to, he turns to face Lucy again.

She's standing there, broken. Her knees are trembling and she lets them collapse, sobs wrack her body, her lungs hyperventilating. She retches and vomit spews out, her body's natural reaction to what just happened. Natsu comes to her side and just holds her, holding her head below his chin, and another arm around her body. She turns into him, accepting his embrace. She grips onto his vest, her throat sore and her body hurting. She wouldn't want to have anyone else here right now except Natsu, he could take care of her. He shrugs off his vest and wraps it around her, she slides her arm through and holds it together to cover herself. Natsu slides an arm behind her knees and another behind her back and scoops her up in his arms. She clings to his chest, not wanting to let go. Natsu remained silent, still fuming over what they did to her. He made sure to pick up her belt that was strewn on the ground.

Natsu had been carrying her for about 30 minutes and she let herself fall asleep. "Lucy," Natsu looks down at her sleeping face. "I'm so sorry I let that happen to you. I should've made sure to know where you were- I should've." He sighs, hanging his head low. "I could've protected you." He holds her tighter in his arms, "I'm never letting you out of my sight again. I promise." He knew she wasn't listening, but this was a promise to himself, as well as to her.

When Lucy wakes up, Natsu is holding her in an elevator. "Where are we?" she asks, rubbing dry tears away.

"We're staying in a hotel for tonight, we're sharing a room." Normally she gets her own room, but she feels relieved as he says this, grateful even. Natsu carries her into their hotel room, letting the door shut behind him and sets her on her bed. There are two queen sized beds, a mini fridge, and a nice bathroom. Natsu gets on both knees in front of her, she's just now realizing there's tears in his eyes. She's hardly ever seen him like this, and it makes her heart hurt a bit. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm so sorry." He keeps eye contact, his hands resting on either side of her on the bed. He rests backwards onto the heels of his feet and drops his head onto her lap, "forgive me."

"For what?" She tilts her head, genuinely confused.

"I wasn't able to get away fast enough to go to you, fuck, I shouldn't have lost sight of you in the first place." She feels his tears drop onto her legs.

"Natsu," she softly speaks and rests her hands in his hair. "You saved me, like you always do. You got there just in time-" he cuts her off before she could finish.

"But what if I didn't?!" He looks up at her, wild-eyed. "The thought of what would've happened if I didn't get there right then…" He looks away, not wanting her to see the pain in his eyes. His hands clench into fists at the thought, and he begins to feel sick to his stomach.

Lucy played with his hair once Natsu's forehead rested on her knees again, "I knew you would save me. You never fail to." She lets out a dry laugh at the last part. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Lucy breaks it, "I'm going to take a bath, okay?" Natsu eventually lifts his head and nods before standing up, letting her walk away from the bed. Lucy stops just before the bathroom door before realizing Natsu was following her, "Natsu, you can't come with." Her being amused at his antics.

"Oh, right, I forgot." He flashed that goofy smile of his, scratching the back of his head and turned around to raid the mini-fridge. She enters the bathroom, she sheds off Natsu's vest along with her skirt and her panties, turning the silver knob of the bath. After the water warms up, she plugs in the stopper and steam soon fills the room. She steps in the bath tenderly, immediately relaxing as she slides in the slowly rising water. She lets out a sigh at the warm water beginning to surround her legs, _this feels great_. She then frowns thinking back to what Natsu said, 'what if he didn't?' He kind of cut it close there, but he was still able to save her from something that is irreversible. _I don't understand why he blames himself; I should've been watching my surroundings. I let my guard down. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. _The water reaches the top and she shuts off the water. _It's my fault._ She slid down beneath the surface of the water; she keeps her eyes open as her face goes under and lets her back hit the bottom of the tub. It's an unusually deep tub, but she doesn't mind. Every time she shuts her eyes, all she sees is their faces; the horrid intent she saw in their eyes, she could still feel their hands all over her. _I wasn't strong enough to protect myself, _she curses at her own weakness.

She sits back up, finally filling her lungs with air again. She grabs a washcloth and lathers it up with the fancy hotel soap. She washes her body gently at first, but then ends up scrubbing harder and harder. Her skin turns red, but it doesn't make her relent her movements and tears sting her eyes, blurring her sight once more. No matter how much she scrubs, she doesn't feel clean. She still feels dirty from their hands touching her, wanting to wash away the memory of it. There's a knock at the door and she halts her movements, "everything okay in there?" Natsu calls out through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice cracks when she responds. Natsu frowns at this, knowing she's lying. He can hear it in her voice, and he could hear her sniffling as she furiously washed her skin earlier.

"Okay, I got to piss." He lies, trying to get her to come out so she doesn't have to be alone with her thoughts.

"Alright, I'll be out soon." She drains the tub of water after she snaps out of it and wraps a towel around herself, drying off. She slides his vest back on and pulls up her panties along with her skirt before opening the bathroom door. "It's free," Natsu rushes in the second she speaks the words and shuts the door behind him.

Lucy tosses and turns in bed, sleep nowhere to be found. The memories of all that happened that day fill her brain and push her exhaustion further away. The cold air of the AC blowing through the room prickles her skin and she pulls the comforter up under her chin in a measly attempt to warm her. When that fails, she throws her arms down and huffs, uncovering herself with the comforter in exasperation. _God damn it._ She shifts onto her side, looking to Natsu's bed. He's still awake, lying flat on his back and staring intently at the ceiling, his vest missing because it was used to cover her, leaving his chest exposed. The moonlight pours in through the window and illuminates him, she examines him for a moment while he fails to notice her. The hardness in his eyes, his forearm underneath his head showing off his bicep, the curve of his jaw, his abs… Her cheeks flush, and she adverts her gaze, _it's not like that, I was just observing. _She sighs, burying her face in her pillow. The heat flowing to her cheeks comes to a stop, and she shivers, now cold again. She tilts her head back towards Natsu, debating in her head whether to ask or not. She bites her lip, deciding not to be so stubborn. "Natsu?"

His eyebrows raise in question and his head snaps towards her, not knowing she was awake. "Yeah, Lucy?"

"I'm cold, can I sleep in your bed tonight." She leaves out the part where she can't sleep with the images still flashing through her brain and that he seems to make it better, but doesn't know why her face feels hot again, Natsu sneaks in her bed all the time at home; frankly, she's surprised he didn't do it tonight. She could probably guess why though; he probably didn't want to invade her personal space right now, it's a nice thought, but she didn't want to be left alone right now.

"Of course," Natsu grins, scooting over and patting the bed next to him. She swings her legs over the edge of her own bed and crawls onto his, sliding under the comforter. His body heat has already warmed up the bed underneath the comforter and she let out a long exhale. _Much better._ With her skirt and only Natsu's open vest concealing her chest, she didn't have much to keep her warm, so this was a perfect idea.

"Thank god you're like a portable heater," her eyes shut with a smile on her face, as she settles down onto the pillow beside his. "This room is so cold," She looks at him to find his body turned towards hers, his eyes on her.

"Or maybe you just got used to me sleeping next to you," He flashes a cheeky smile and she rolls her eyes, ending up laughing anyways.

"Shut up, no I didn't." She flicks his forehead but let herself scoot closer to him when he puts his arm around her waist, her forehead resting against his chest.

His chest rumbles as he talks once more, "whatever you say, Luce."

Natsu woke up pretty early, before the sun came up, but the sky dusted with a purple hue with the incoming day. He stayed awake and didn't realize when the sun began pouring through the window, just watching Lucy as she slept. How every once in a while, her brow would furrow, and her eyes would move frantically beneath her lids. He wondered what she's dreaming about. Her lips were parted, her chest rose and fell with each breath, and tendrils of her hair were strewn over her face. _She looks so peaceful when she sleeps._ His vest on her doesn't have a way to fasten in the middle, leaving the center exposed. He can't help it when his eyes trail over her, _Lucy's always been so perfect_. He's never made a move though; he would never risk their friendship. Fantasies run through his mind a lot but refuses to act on them. Like right now, for instance, he can't keep his eyes off her. He wants to kiss her, just once. They're both twenty now, and a lot has changed over the years. He became a lot less ignorant about everything sexual, and this strange feeling he gets every time he sees Lucy. He doubts she feels it too, but he doesn't care, being her friend is more than enough.

He nuzzles his face into her neck, his arm around her body, holding her, his leg strewn over her. _I'm never leaving your side again, Lucy. _His thoughts wander to what had happened yesterday, and his arm protectively tightens around her. _Those men deserved so much worse after what they did to her. _He kind of wished he could go back and murder them, but he second guessed it, knowing Fairytail doesn't kill people. On a job, they're representing Fairytail, he'd dirty their name. He feels like it would be worth it though, those men deserved to burn in hell.

Lucy stirs in her sleep, and he knows she's going to wake up soon, but he refuses to move. He lays there, just listening to her breathing and her heart beating. _Mating season is arriving tonight at midnight, and I'm now old enough. If it's Lucy, I don't know what to do, I don't want to force it on her. _Frankly, he kind of knew it was her, just instinctively. From how he's so protective over her, to how when a guy tries to get with her it makes him so bothered that it his skin itches for a fight, and when that ice prick hits on her, it especially pisses him off to no end. If it wasn't her, he'd be honestly shocked. He also wouldn't want anyone else as his mate, she belongs with him. Even if she doesn't realize it yet. He doesn't know much about the mating season since when Igneel tried to explain, he wasn't paying that much attention.

Everyone in the guild knows that Dragon Slayer Mating season goes on one month a year, since it already happened to Gajeel and Levy. It didn't happen to Laxus, _I guess he just hasn't found his mate yet_. He feels afraid for what might happen, he knows his dragon will take over for the first week and he doesn't even know how that's going to go. Bits and pieces of what Igneel said still stand out in his mind, like how he has to mark her, and he'll be very possessive, _which I kind of already am so it can't be that bad, right? _He cuddles Lucy further as this thought runs through his mind. _I'll have to ask Gajeel and Levy when we get home._

She stretches and yawns, breaking Natsu's train of thought. He shuts his eyes, not ready for her to know he's awake and doing this purposefully just yet.

Lucy feels weighed down by something as she stretches and finally peels open her eyes to look down at a tuft of pink hair nuzzled in the crook of her neck. Natsu's arm is wrapped around her, and his leg around hers, his head keeping her shoulder pinned down. "God damn it, Natsu." She breathes softly, before looking down at her mostly exposed torso and her face turns redder than Erza's hair. She's now noticing Natsu's bicep is resting below her breasts, still touching the underside, and the forearm is bent upward, underneath the shoulder that isn't pinned down by his head. Natsu's arm unconsciously pushes her breasts up, and his face is dangerously close to them. With her only free arm, she guides his arm down slowly and he tightens it around her waist now. His nose and mouth move up to brush against her neck, and his hot breath that almost feels like the fire he eats caresses the tender area, sending goosebumps chasing over her skin. She sighs, using her free elbow on the same shoulder Natsu is on, to bend up and her fingers land in Natsu's hair. She plays with his pink tendrils, since he has her trapped in his sleep and she has nothing else to do. She almost thinks she hears a low groan come from him but thinks nothing of it, _it's just Natsu_, _he's not really a sexual person._

Natsu curses to himself mentally as he accidentally let a groan slip out, he couldn't really help it, she was tugging at his hair and playing with it, not even knowing what it was doing to him. He suddenly feels like a massive pervert, _she doesn't feel that way about me, I really have to keep my hormones in check. For Lucy's sake. _He decides he shouldn't let this go on any longer, even though holding her feels really good, since she usually kicks him off when she wakes up to find him sleeping in her bed; however, her playing with his hair and pulling at it every so often begins to stir something inside him, and he doesn't want it to stop, but he needs it to before he does something he'll regret. He stretches his legs, "ah, well, good morning to you too, Lucy." Deciding to put embarrassment on her instead of him as he says this, for her playing with his hair.

She halts her movements with her hand, not realizing he had woken up. Slightly uncomfortable that he caught her doing that, "morning," she practically squeaks out.

Natsu grins at this opportunity to torture her further at her reaction, "awe, why'd you stop?" He whispers this in her ear, then laughs amusedly. Lucy rolls her eyes at his teasing, but his breath tickling her ear makes a shiver chase down her spine. She nudges him off her, and he releases her from his hold willingly as she begins to stand up.

Lucy shudders from the cold the moment she leaves Natsu's warm prison, "we need to head home. We've already been gone longer than we said we were going to be, and the guild is probably worried," she fastens her belt with her keys and whip. _Natsu picked this up for me, when I left it behind,_ she realizes as she buckles it around her.

Natsu just wanted to stay in this bed with her forever, but he knew she was right.

"We're home!" They shout into the guild hall, receiving a few 'welcome back's in response. Lucy immediately heads to the bar and plops down on a bar stool in front of Mira, the job was a long ways away, so by the time they made it back it was already nightfall.

"How did it go?" She asks, cleaning out a glass. "Did you guys run into any trouble?" Her eyes looked full of concern, since they usually don't take longer than expected on a job.

"It went mostly okay, but their leader and two other guys dragged me away, and tried to-" she cut her own voice off, shaking her head free of the memories. Her face going dark for a moment before beaming again, "but Natsu saved my ass just in time."

"I hope Natsu beat them senseless, right?" Mirajane's Satan Soul looked like it was beginning to loom over her in a shadow, her eyebrow twitching.

"Nearly broke all the bones in the guy's body," she sweat drops at Mira going scary for a moment, then bouncing back to her normal bubbly self with a 'that's good' and continued cleaning out dishes.

She felt an arm sling over her shoulders, and she jumps a bit at the sudden contact. She relaxes once she sees it's just Gray, "hey, Lucy, the rest of the team missed you. Bandits didn't give you too much trouble, did they?" She tenses up and she notices how Mira doesn't say anything to Gray, keeping her mouth shut and moving along to serve someone else after sliding a double shot over.

"By the rest of the team, you mean you?" She avoids the question with another question, tossing back the shot.

"You know me too well, of course I mean me. Didn't get up to too much fun with Natsu without Happy and the rest of us around, did you?" His elbow angled tighter, his face moving closer. His breath was cold, and she could smell an alcohol tinge to it, so she knows he's just playing around with her.

"I knew you missed me," she grins playfully. Gray had begun getting flirtier with her over the years, with Juvia in the background muttering 'love rival' every five minutes, but Gray didn't seem to care. Lucy didn't care either because she knew he wasn't serious; nothing would ever happen between them again.

"Who couldn't miss _you_, Lucy." Gray's smirk widens, loving his close approximation with her a little too much. He catches Natsu glaring at him, his hands balled into fists and his jaw tightened. This just encourages him on, not being able to resist going after something his rival wants, it was just too thrilling. Not that he wasn't attracted to her all on his own, it was just more fun when Natsu could see. He then leaned in to whisper into Lucy's ear, antagonizing him by shooting Natsu a side-glance as he did so. "It's just so much more fun when you're around," he licks his lips as he knows Natsu could hear every word he said.

Gray gets the reaction he wants out of him as Natsu grips the table tighter until it splinters and breaks. Natsu was just before then talking to Gajeel about mating season and he had confirmed to Natsu that Lucy was, indeed, his mate. Gajeel could see it in action as Natsu shoots daggers at Gray, murder in his eyes. Gajeel himself knew that if any man was up on Levy like that, he would be having the same reaction; except, he would probably go over there and punch his lights out. Right as the thought passes, Natsu does exactly that, storming right up to Gray, absolutely fuming, and socked him in the jaw. Gray's arm leaves its position around Lucy, his head hitting the bar before he falls the ground.

"Natsu, what the hell?" Lucy stands up, turning sharply towards him. Her anger came to a halt as she saw the look in his eyes, it honestly kind of terrified her. Such fury in his eyes as he grabbed my arms in his hands and pulled me closer to him.

"Go home. Now." His voice commanded in a low voice so no one else could hear with such finality that I quivered in his hands.

"But-" her eyes trail down to a knocked out Gray, a little worried and bent down a bit so she could make sure he was okay. He held her tight in place so she couldn't, anger rising into his eyes again.

"Now." She nodded her head in agreement quickly when he demanded again, fearing what would happen if she didn't. She then walks quickly out of the guild, heading straight for her apartment. Natsu turned back around and sat back down next to Gajeel once more, "so, where were we?"

"Damn, Salamander. You're mating season is progressing a lot faster and more aggressive than even mine did." Gajeel looked kind of impressed, and Natsu crossed his arms over his chest in irritation. He's kind of glad that the rest of the guild didn't notice his behavior though.

"You can't even know what that felt like," he grumbles, picking at the now splintered table.

"Oh, I definitely know." Gajeel grimaces at the thought again, "Jet and Droy were just too close to her for my liking. Always fighting over her. Tsk. She's mine."

"Lucy and Gray have actually done things before though; I know because he brags about it all the time." He seethes through gritted teeth.

"Levy and Jet. They messed around one-night really drunk, and apparently, they only made out and he fingered her while she jacked him off. After, she said she felt bad about it because she was only using him to release her sexual frustration, and it meant more to him than it did for her. They agreed to just stay friends, but every time I saw him around her, I wanted to throw him across the guild hall." Gajeel nods in Natsu's direction, "so yeah, I know how you feel."

"That's not even that bad. Lucy and Gray didn't get that drunk, and she brought him back to her apartment. They made out and he got to touch all over her, he got to eat her out and she came on his tongue. Then, she returned the favor, Gray would go on and on about how good her mouth felt around him and how she swallowed every last drop." His fists tighten, not even telling all the detail Gray would go out into. "God, I smelled that perverted popsicle's stench in her apartment for weeks."

"Oh, man, that really is rough. I can understand why you would knock his ass out even before your first mating season." Gajeel chuckles, almost pitying him. If he ever had to hear that about Levy, he would almost feel bad for the dude after what he would do to him. "Anyways, my advice, go home. You should try to sleep through the first night. For her sake."

Lucy had Loke walk her home, after that job she wasn't taking any chances. He gave her a hug goodnight and kissed her forehead, promising if she ever needed someone to walk her safely home, he's available. She pushed open her apartment door, _Natsu was acting like a dick. What the hell is going on? _She changed into her nightgown and didn't even bother taking a bath, heading straight to her kitchen to grab herself a midnight snack. She opened her fridge to find it mostly empty from Natsu always raiding it, but a pack of strawberries caught her eye. She pulls it out, grabs a glass bowl and dumps a few in there before placing the rest back. She bounds to her bed, ready to relax with a good book. When she enters her bedroom, her plans are soiled because Natsu is sitting on the edge of her bed, his face concealed in shadows from the moon shining through her window. "Oh, come on, Natsu, I just want to relax in my own bed." No answer.

She frowns, walking over to her lamp and flicking it on. She slowly turns to face him, and his hand snaps up to grab her wrist tightly, the movement in her hand with the bowl in it stopping abruptly, resulted in it falling off and shattering on the floor. Strawberries tumble out everywhere, she doesn't even have a moment to scold him because when her eyes reach his face, she sharply intakes a breath at what she sees. His eyes were gold and slit like a dragon's, his face looked like it does when he unleashes dragon force, with scales covering parts of his face and arms, his canines longer, and his nails have grown into claws. He steps towards her, his hand on her wrist yanking her towards him and she falls forward, his arm snakes around her waist, tightening the space between their bodies until there was none left.

"N-Natsu?"

He sniffs her hair and neck, she tries to shove him away, but his arm refuses to budge. He lets out a low, inhuman growl. "Lucy, you smell like Loke." His tone was that of a warning, for her to choose her next words carefully. His arm tightens around her and she squeaks at his closeness, "why do you smell like him." His voice is stern, and it sounds nothing like him.

"H-He walked me home, are you okay?" She isn't able to stop herself from stuttering, "N-Natsu, you aren't acting like yourself."

"I'm fine." He grunts, his hot breath fanning her neck, but really, he wasn't okay. Every single bone in his body is urging him to kiss down her neck, just to cover up Loke's scent. _It doesn't belong there, mine does. _He huffs in frustration, struggling to hold himself back. _She's your friend, your partner. Control yourself. _Easier said than done, as he tells himself this, his lips brush against where her neck meets her jawline. Her own scent mixed with the stupid lion's wafting into his nose, another growl escapes him.

Lucy's skin tingles as Natsu's lips brush against her, _what the hell is Natsu doing? _A small gasp slips out when instead of his lips, she feels his canines grazing over her nape of her neck.

_Mine._ The word pops into Natsu's head, _I could make her mine right now. It'd be so easy. No, what the hell am I saying. I can't force this. _A battle rages on in his head, the temptation overwhelming him. Eventually, He pushes her away from her. Not knowing his own strength, she's thrown onto the bed like a ragdoll. She looks at him with wide eyes, shock evident. "I'm sorry." His strained voice comes out and he leaps onto her window sill, looking back once more at her surprised face, before letting himself fall to the ground below and running off. _I almost lost control. I can't let that happen._

Lucy lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and sits up to shut the window, locking it this time. Dumbfounded, she stares out the window, wondering _what the hell._

_**-A/N-**_

_**This chapter was kinda boring, but spicy shit coming up next, promise. **___


	2. Chapter 2 - Drinking and Desires

**Mine**

Chapter two

_5:00 pm_

"What do I do? I lost control, is that going to get worse? I don't want to force Lucy into anything she doesn't want. Fuck." Natsu walks along the street next to Gajeel, rambling on nervously. Today, everyone is celebrating Levy's birthday, and Gajeel was shopping for a present when Natsu caught up to him.

"You have got to calm down. Man up and tell her, Salamander. It's not that hard." Gajeel grunts, looking at necklaces like they're all the same.

"Well, we've been best friends for years, what exactly am I supposed to say? 'You're my mate, let me bite and fuck you now'?" Natsu runs a hand through his hair, groaning in frustration.

Gajeel cackles, "that could work." He holds up one of the necklaces to the light, the pendant is a dark metal dragon with a ruby for the eye, he grins. "Damn, it's perfect. How much?" He asks the lady at the cash register.

"That one's 15,000 Jewel." She eyed Gajeel up and down, like she assumes he can't afford it.

"I'll take it." He hands her the money and she bags it, a little shocked. He whispers to Natsu, "thank god I took that last job before Levy's birthday." They walk off together and Gajeel seems proud of himself with his little baggy, knowing Levy is going to love it. "Anyways, there's no good way to say it, but you have to or else she's just going to be confused. At least if she knows, she won't flirt with Gray anymore, even if only to not risk you murdering him brutally." They head to the guild together, knowing Mirajane should be almost done setting up for the party tonight. "The possessiveness, the urges, everything is just going to get worse if you don't bite her and complete the mating ritual. It's possible for it to get so bad your inner dragon takes over completely just to make it happen. Even if it means by force." Natsu turns to him with wide eyes, not knowing that was a possibility.

"Oh god, I can't let that happen." Natsu's face goes pale and he rubs his sweaty palms on his baggy pants. _Especially after what happened on our mission. _"I can't force her; I don't want to do that to her." _I just want to protect her, not hurt her more._

"You'll be fine, you just have to figure it out by the end of the week, or it _will_ happen."

_8:45 pm_

"You look so cute, Levy! That dress is perfect for you." Lucy claps her hands, examining her handiwork. Lucy bought her a pale yellow, short, lacey, flowy dress that has short and loose see through off-the-shoulder sleeves, the kind of dress that looks like it's made specifically for Levy's body type: short and petite. She hands levy a white headband and white shoes to match.

"Thanks for helping out, Lu-chan. You've always been good at this kind of thing." She twirls around in the mirror, admiring how the dress flows out. "We're just going to the guild hall, so we don't really have to dress up, but it's so nice to once in a while, isn't it?"

"Definitely," Lucy grins, looking at her own dress in the mirror. It's a tight red dress, that is a pretty stretchy material, so it isn't too confining. _Thank god_. It's short, ending mid-thigh, which is a bit less comfortable. The cleavage makes her boobs look _amazing_, so there's that. "Also, Levy, Natsu was acting weird last night."

"What happened?" Levy turns to her after tying the headband.

"It's kind of hard to explain, but he just wasn't acting like himself. Being too serious to be the Natsu I know. He was asking why I smelled like Loke and stuff, it was weird." She shrugs, adjusting her dress.

"I see... Well, we better get to the guild hall, we don't want to be late." Levy pulls Lucy by the arm out of the door and she frowns at the abrupt change of topic.

They walk along the street towards the guild and Lucy balances on the edge like always, "come on, Levy, I can tell when you're hiding something from me. What is it?"

"It just… sounded familiar, that's all."

"What do you me-" Lucy was cut off when the man who tells her to be careful yells out to her.

"Looking good, Lucy." It distracts her for a moment.

"Thank you," she calls back. She turns back to Levy, "what do you mean?"

"Look! We're here." Levy skips up to the guild entrance and turns back to gesture Lucy to follow. Lucy sighs, knowing she isn't going to get an answer out of her and just follows her inside.

As soon as they enter a blast of air hits their face and the smell of booze overwhelms their senses for a moment, and then the cheers of: "Happy birthday, Levy!" The whole guild is here, and you can tell no one waited for the honored guest to start drinking. Immediately, Cana comes up to them and grabs both Levy and Lucy's arm, dragging them straight to the bar. "Mira! Oh, sweet, sweet Mirajane. Get this lovely lady her birthday shot." Mira grins, grabbing a double shot glass, and fills it with a creation Mira has created on her own for someone's birthday. Guaranteed to get them more drunk, faster.

Mira slides it over to Levy and she catches it before it falls off, "I'm not really sure about this." Levy glances around anxiously.

"Come on, birthday girl. Mira made it just for you." Cana grins, propping her elbow up on the bar.

"Okay, okay." Levy tosses it back and cringes, Cana applauds, and we all sit down on the barstools.

"We're not done yet," Cana grins, "three Screaming Orgasms, please." She orders from Mira and even she smiles a bit at the name. She places three double shot glasses down, and carefully fills each layer with precision. Mira passes them over, "Wonderful, couldn't have done it better myself." Cana comments before downing hers with Lucy.

"I'm going to need a minute," Levy giggles, still handling the last one as best as she can.

"Levy's a lightweight, go easy on her Cana. Remember what happened last time?" Lucy giggles.

"Ah, yes. What a fond memory, Levy dancing on the bar with high heels on." Cana muses, resting her jaw in her palm, looking expectantly over at Levy.

Levy downs the shot to avoid responding, "happy?"

"Not quite," Cana smirks, hopping off her barstool, and drags both of them by the arm once again. This time, over to a table were a few people already sit. Gajeel, Gray, Laxus, and Natsu. Gajeel stands up, kissing Levy and wishes her a happy birthday, then leans into her ear to whisper she looks amazing.

Natsu looks up at Lucy and notices the dress she's wearing and how it hugs every single curve, he gulps. _She just had to make it that much harder, didn't she? _He turned his attention back to his drink, downing it completely before standing up to get another. He squeezes past Lucy, her ass brushes against his front and he mentally groans. The girls sit down at the table, and Natsu heads off to get his drink.

Cana notices this transaction and leans into Lucy's ear, "good choice of dress." Lucy glances at her with a confused look before Cana slams her hands down on the table. "Who's ready for a drinking game?" Right as she says that Mira brings a tray of a great multitude of shots, _is she a mind reader or did they plan this? _Lucy wonders, thinking that all of this seems a little too calculated.

Natsu comes back with his drink and sees all the shots, "oh, fuck."

"Oh, fuck is right." The mischievous face Cana has makes almost everyone a little nervous. "Who's up for truth or dare?" Laxus groans and Mira claps her hands excitedly. "Alright, rules are simple. Whoever doesn't want to do their truth does a shot, same thing with dare. Person who just went gets to choose the person they ask. Got it?" Cana receives collective 'got it's from around the table. "I'll spin the bottle to see who starts."

"What bottle?" Gray asks, and Cana points to Natsu's full beer.

"Drink it, Natsu." Cana says and Natsu lets out a sigh and complies, chugging it before slamming it on the table. Cana twirls it and It lands on Gajeel.

"Mira, truth or dare." Gajeel turns to her.

"Dare," she says confidently.

"I dare you to… sit on Laxus' lap until the end of the game." The corner of his lips curve up as she stands up and walks over to Laxus.

Laxus pats his lap with a smile on his own face, she lets out a sigh and plops down. Laxus places his hands on her hips and squeezes them, "_now_ I'm beginning to like this game."

"Pervert," she huffs, but they can all see a small smirk beginning to make an appearance. "Natsu, truth or dare."

"Dare," he nods to her, feeling like he's ready for anything she throws at him.

"Take a body shot off Lucy," he wasn't prepared for that.

Lucy stands up and hops up on the empty table next to their original one, since it's filled with shots, and lays back. Cana stands up to prepare the body shot, pouring salt in between her cleavage, and pulling up her dress to her belly button. Cana runs and grabs a shot of tequila; Lucy's face turns red from herself on display. Cana pours it in her bellybutton, and it holds for now, but Lucy can feel it almost about to spill over. Natsu licks his lips and stands up, _shit_. _I'm supposed to be trying to control myself but now it's even harder. I can see everything. Her panties are on full display. _Natsu bites his lip nervously. Cana puts the final touch, a lime in Lucy's mouth.

Natsu hesitates and Cana pats him on the back, "don't be a pussy." _What nice words of encouragement?_

He licks down from the top of her cleavage, getting the salt until his face and tongue delve a little too deep into her breasts. His pants tighten a bit, and he heads down to her stomach where he drinks the shot from her belly button, but some spills over in a line down to her panties and he licks it up until his tongue hits the hem of her panties. He can't help it when he takes it in his teeth and snaps it to her skin. She gasps, it being muffled by the lime. He goes back up and takes the lime out of her mouth with his own and sucks on it before discarding it.

He turns back to the small group and they all look mostly stunned, Cana breaks the silence, "that was the hottest body shot I've ever seen, and I've seen _a lot._" Lucy sits up, her face still tinged with pink in her cheeks, she hops off the table and pulls her dress down, going back to sit in her chair again. Natsu sits down beside her, his face looking a little discolored too. "Natsu, your turn."

"Right, um, Laxus, truth or dare."

"Dare."

"Have nothing on but your underwear on for the rest of the game, oh, and Mira has to stay on your lap while you take it off."

Laxus shrugs, not minding having less clothing between him and the girl on top of him. He takes off his jacket and shirt, then struggles to take his pants off with Mira on him. She tries to help, lifting herself up a little bit and moving to sit above where his pants have already been pulled down, then he yanks off the rest. Mira's face turns beet red when she realizes what she's sitting on. She moves down on his legs a little bit and he pulls her back up. "Blondie, truth or dare?" He asks Lucy.

"Dare." She responds, _after what just happened, how could it get worse? _

"Give popsicle here a lap dance," Laxus gestures over to Gray. _I was wrong, this is worse._

She groaned, taking a shot, not because she was wimping out, but because she needed to be more drunk to do this. She was glad there was already sexy music playing in the background, she took long strides over to him, he had already backed up his chair for her. She casually struts around the chair, slowly moving her hips to the music, running a hand over his shoulders. When she makes it back around to the front, she swings her leg around to hook around his body and the back of the chair leg, then the other one.

She lets her lips brush against his, as she moves her hips to the music. She then slowly unwraps her legs from the chair and stands between his spread legs. She sways her hips as she drops down closer to the ground, her hands climbing up his legs as she does so. Cana wolf-whistles at the view, Natsu bounces his knee furiously and digs his nails into them, to keep himself from either knocking out Gray for looking at her the way he is right now or jumping Lucy right then. She then stands up and swings her hips in a figure-eight motion, her hands trailing over her own body. He reaches out to touch her and she smacks his hand away. Natsu grins a bit, but then she turns around, so her ass is facing Gray. The grin diminishes quickly.

She continues the figure eight motion but getting lower between his legs, so her ass is pressed against his crotch. She rests her hands on his knees again and moves her ass to the rhythm, she then moves her ass up so he has full view, but can't touch, then back down. She sits down on him finally, letting her head fall back onto his shoulder, as she brings a hand to the other side of his neck and trails it down, still moving her hips against him to the music. "Fuck," Gray breathes. His hand trails up her body up until it wraps around her neck, she bites her lip and Natsu almost stands up to sock him, but Gajeel puts a hand on his shoulder to push him back down, Gray's other hand begins trailing up her inner thigh. At that, she stands up and goes back to her seat, acting like nothing ever happened.

"Well, damn, you went all out blondie." Laxus clears his throat, drinking some of his beer. "Props," he raises his glass to her. "Icicle looks sexually frustrated as hell right now, so I'd say you did a damn good job." He wasn't wrong, Gray was left sitting there, speechless, his face pink, and a bulge in his pants. Gray shakes his head, snapping himself out of it and scoots his chair back to the table, probably to hide his arousal. Lucy takes another shot, for no other reason than she just didn't feel drunk enough. Natsu was boiling inside, rage making his hands shake. Her eyes meet his and she almost cowers a bit underneath his burning gaze, _what is with him? It's just a game._

"Cana, truth or dare." Lucy readjusts her dress which had ridden up a bit. Adverting her eyes from his, but she can still feel his on her.

"Truth," everyone looks at her a little dumbstruck. "What? I can tell the truth."

"Alright, are you sleeping with Bacchus?"

Cana stays silent for a moment, like contemplating whether or not to give an answer. Then, takes a shot, choosing not to answer. "Well, there's our answer." Mira giggles at her choice of action.

"Gray, truth or dare." Cana changes the subject quickly.

"Dare," he licks his lips, most likely hoping for something sexual.

"I dare you to keep your clothes on until the end of the game, if any of us catch you trying to take off a piece of clothing, we all have to take a shot. Everyone agree with this?" Everyone shouts in agreement, because tonight they're planning to get wrecked.

The game goes on for a long while, everyone laughing and drinking together. Levy looks at her group of friends and smiles to herself, _I wouldn't want to be anywhere else other than right here. _Gajeel leans into her ear, "what you smiling at, shrimp?"

"Everyone," she sighs in contentment. "This is my family; I wouldn't want to spend my birthday any other way."

"Well, I think it's time for presents, don't you think?" Gajeel says loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yes! Mine first," Lucy hands Levy a present neatly wrapped with a bow tying it together.

"Lu-chan, you already got me the dress, you didn't have to get anything else." Levy shakes her head at her best friend.

Lucy shushes her, "nonsense. You'll love it." Levy unties the bow and tears open the wrapping paper.

"No fucking way, how did you get this?" Levy stares at it in awe, turning it over in her hands. It was one of her favorite books of all time, she can't choose just one because that would be like choosing a favorite child, signed by the author on the cover.

"I have my connections," Lucy just shrugs and gives levy a hug, "happy birthday."

"Thank you so much, this is the best present ever." Levy squeezes her tighter with her tiny arms before letting go, Lucy rests back in her chair.

Natsu laughs, his arm swinging over to rest on the back of Lucy's chair. To her, this is normal, and she's happy that he's acting more like himself. To everyone else, it seems more like a sign of possession than anything. "Don't say that too loud in front of Gajeel, he spent hours looking for the perfect present for you." Natsu grins, looking to Gajeel who has an uncharacteristically bashful look at his statement.

Gajeel shoves the tiny bag in her hands, looking away, playing with his fingers. Her lips tug upward at this and pulls out a tiny black box from the back, she uncovers it and a hand flies to cover her mouth. She takes it out for everyone to see, "it's beautiful, baby." She walks over to kiss him on the cheek, and he pulls her into his lap, tightening his large arms around her tiny frame.

"Happy birthday," he whispers into her ear, "your other present comes later." Levy's cheeks burn bright red at the words.

A man walks into the guild and places a plastic container on the table with a note on it, "delivery for Levy." He speaks, turning and walking right out the door again. Everyone looks at it confused, it's a strawberry cake.

Gray opens the note and reads it aloud, "sorry I couldn't make it because of my mission. Enjoy the cake. Happy Birthday, Levy. Signed, Erza." Gray chuckles, dropping the note. "Of course Erza would get her a strawberry cake."

"Everyone has to take a shot!" Mira shouts at our table, pointing to Gray absentmindedly stripping off his shirt. "Damn, Gray. That's the fourth time already, do you want everyone piss drunk or something?"

"It's not my fault," he whines in response, buttoning up his shirt again. Everyone takes, once again, another shot, downing the hard liquor.

Levy coughs, "I don't think I can take another one of those."

_11:00 pm_

Everyone eventually stopped playing the game, knowing if they did any more, they wouldn't make it home. Especially with Gray's stripping habit adding to the copious amount of alcohol they were consuming. Levy and Gajeel snuck home for "alone time," probably to give her his other birthday present. Everyone, drunk as hell dances to the music, the bass fueling their movements. If there's one thing that can be said about Fairy Tail, they sure know how to party. Lucy dances with Cana, she was practically dragged up there by her, but Lucy didn't mind. She didn't mind much of anything right now, she was numb, and it felt amazing. Natsu, is sitting at a table, feeling his dragon begin to come out the closer it gets to 12. Cana twirls Lucy around and Cana dances behind her, both of them swaying their hips to the music. Even just Cana dancing with her, makes him want to take Lucy away from here and just have her to himself.

It didn't last long before Gray taps Cana's shoulder, "may I cut in?" His words slur a bit, no matter how hard he tries to make them not. She nods and goes over to dance with Mirajane, who was already dancing with Laxus and they all dance together, Laxus not being upset at all about this development. "I've always loved the way your body moves, Lucy." He whispers in a raspy tone into her ear. She jumps, not even noticing it wasn't Cana behind her anymore. His hands trail to her hips, pulling her against him. Natsu notices this, and almost stands up, but he reminds himself: _control, maintain control._

"Gray," she says in a cautious tone, "what are you doing?"

"Come on, Lucy. You know what I want." His hands trail up to her waist, one to the underside of her bra, "and the way you danced on me earlier shows you want it too." She tugs at her lip with her teeth a bit. She's a woman, she has needs, it's true. However, she won't go there with him again, she won't complicate their friendship like that.

"Dancing on you was a dare, Gray." Her breathing becomes a little ragged when his teeth nibble at her earlobe. "Nothing more."

"And I can just be your release, nothing more." He licks his lips, then leaves a kiss on her neck. "I can tell you need one."

"That was a one-time thing, and you know it." The offer is a little tempting, but she's standing strong on her decision. His hands begin to trail lower again, this time, one goes to pick at the hem of her dress, and the other squeezes firmly on her hip.

"It doesn't have to be just a one-time thing, Lucy. You have needs, I have needs. It works out." The hand that was playing with the hem of her dress now rests on her inner thigh, making its way up.

"Gray, no." His hand continues on its path and she uses her own hand to try and halt its movements, but it fails to work. "G-Gray, stop." She now uses more force, to stop him from reaching his goal. At this, Natsu can't take it anymore. For her sake as well as his own.

"Lucy, I know you wan-" before Gray can even finish his sentence, his hands are off her in an instant. Lucy turns around and sees why, he's knocked out on the ground, once again. Natsu standing over him, fuming.

"Natsu?" She looks to him in question, he just grabs her wrist and drags her out of the guild.

"You're going home," he states sternly, continuing to lead her down the street to her apartment. Lucy stumbles in attempt to catch up to Natsu's brisk pace, failing miserably due to her current level of intoxication.

Lucy can never really stop herself from talking when she's this drunk, so instead of just following without question, she asks; "Natsu, what's been going on with you? You've been acting different." Natsu doesn't reply, walking silently ahead, still holding her wrist so she doesn't go anywhere. This frustrates her and she whines, "Natsu, talk to me. You haven't been the same since the night we got back." His hand tightens, and his jaw clenches. "Natsu!" She plants her feet firmly to the ground, refusing to move any further until he responds.

Natsu swings her around and slams her against the brick wall of a nearby building, his body against hers, and both of his hands pinning her wrists to the wall, "because I can't do this, Lucy." He almost snarls out, "I can't watch him put his hands on you, touch you, like that." She looks up in surprise at his words into his pale forest green eyes staring intently into her own, a vein popping out of his forehead. "I just can't. It burns at me inside, Luce." He rests his forehead against hers, his eyes shutting for a moment, as if to calm himself down.

"Natsu…" She whispers, her voice laced with shock and confusion at this sudden change in her goofy best friend.

He lets one of her wrists drop, and keeps the other one in his hand, stepping away from her to walk her down the street. "Let's get you home, okay?"

"Okay," she lets him lead her forward. The rest of the walk was silent, and Lucy lets her thoughts wander. _Natsu's jealous? That's not really like him, I kind of thought he was still clueless to anything sexual, especially when it comes to his own sexuality and urges. Maybe I was wrong. We _are_ twenty now, he was bound to snap out of it sooner or later. But jealous of Gray? He would never admit to any such thing, so it must be _really _bothering him. I don't want him mad at me, he's my best friend. I've never really seen him in a sexual way, even when he sleeps in my bed, besides the occasional wet dream… _Lucy snaps out of her drunk thoughts once she realizes they're right at her front door. She fumbles with the keys, trying to remember which one is the right one. He grabs it for her and finds it easily, unlocking her door. _I guess dragon slayers have a greater tolerance than humans._

"Greater stamina too," He mumbles as he helps her through the front door.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" She giggles at her own mistake, stumbling through the doorway even with Natsu's arm around her waist to steady her. Once they reach her kitchen, she runs out from his arm and heads straight to the fridge, "ooh, you want a snack? I'm hungry." She opens the refrigerator door, and bends over to find it mostly empty except a few leftovers and the same plastic container of strawberries. _Not hungry for food, _the thought plagues Natsu's mind as he sees the sight before him, but he pushes it aside. She pulls out the strawberries and heads to her room, looking behind her to make sure Natsu's following and it makes her happy that he is.

She plops onto her bed and it bounces a little, she opens the plastic container as she tries to kick her shoes off with her legs on the bed, forgetting they're heels. Natsu sighs when he sees this, "here, let me." He sits on the bed at the bottom of her feet and unbuckles one, undoing the complicated strap, before tossing it into her closet. He then unbuckles the other and does the same thing as she munches happily on her strawberries. She stretches her toes out, now being freed from their prison. "Better?" Natsu laughs, then kicks off his own shoes.

"Much, thank you." She tries to say with a mouth full of strawberries. He then scoots up to sit by her at the head of the bed, stretching his legs out as well. She offers him a strawberry and he takes it from her, popping it into his mouth. "Natsu," she looks to him.

"Yeah?" He answers, chewing the strawberry.

"Thank you," she looks down at her hands, realizing she didn't even say it before.

"For what?" He studies her face and sees a complicated look on it, her brows furrowed.

"Gray was being too forceful, and I didn't have the physical strength to stop him myself. I didn't say it before, so, thank you." She pops another strawberry in her mouth, hating admitting her own weakness.

"He shouldn't have done that; he was way out of line." Natsu's hand tightens into a fist. "I'm always going to save you, Luce. You could've called out to me, I would've heard, anywhere."

She blushes at the last part, "so that means you heard what he was saying too."

"I did." He grits his teeth, trying not to say anything out of line himself. "I heard it all. I didn't do anything because he was right, you're a woman, you have needs, and you can make your own decisions. However, the second he started trying to force you into it when you already said no-" he stops, making himself angry again on accident. "I had to interfere," he looks at her again and sees she already has her eyes focused on him.

She plays with her fingers, her cheeks tinted pink from him talking about how she has needs. She's a little embarrassed to be discussing this with him of all people, to say the least. _The only way Natsu would be mature enough to understand this is if he has these kinds of needs too_, her face turns an even redder shade at this passing thought, it makes her look at him a little different. "You really _have _grown up, Natsu." A smirk begins appearing on her face, teasing him after coming to this realization.

"Hey, I have urges too, we're a lot older now. I'm not the same kid who was absolutely oblivious to this sort of thing." He laughs, popping another strawberry in his mouth. "Anyways, you should probably get to bed. You are going to really feel that hangover tomorrow."

He climbs off her bed and she grabs his arm before he walks off, "will you stay?" She wouldn't straight out ask this unless she was drunk, and he knows this.

He looks at the clock on her wall, _11:45 pm. _"Uh, I don't know, it's almost twelve."

"What, you got to be somewhere at midnight or something?" She laughs, it reminds her of the story of Cinderella for a moment.

"Well, no." He bites the inside of his cheek for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should say anything about it. "I'll stay."

"I'll change," she hops of the bed and places the strawberries on her nightstand before heading to her dresser to grab her night clothes. Natsu puts away the strawberries for her and decides to grab her a glass of water for tomorrow morning. She heads to the bathroom with her clothes and sets them on the sink. She reaches back for the zipper and can't quite get to it, since she had Levy help her zip it up, it's going to be quite a struggle getting it undone by herself. Especially intoxicated, yet she tries anyways. After several failed attempts of fumbling with it, she finally asks for help. "Natsu?"

"Yeah?" He calls from in her bedroom, walking toward the bathroom at the sound of her voice. He peeks his head in and sees her struggling, she turns around to face him.

"I need help," she pouts, frustrated that she can't get it herself. He walks in fully, only dressed in his boxers which had a pattern with little flames on it against a black background and she almost snorts. She turns around and pulls her hair over her left shoulder, she feels the heat that radiates from his body surround her as he steps closer to help with the zipper and it makes the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

He slowly pulls down the zipper, his thumb grazing over the skin of her back as he does so, all the way down. Her breathing becomes heavier as his finger seems to leave a trail of fire down her spine until it finally hits the small of her back. She feels his hot breath fanning her neck and it makes a shiver run down her back, following the previous path of his finger, and she almost leans back into his body, but stops herself. His hands trail back up and brush over her shoulders, knocking of the straps. He trails them down and she slips her arms out of them, he pulls down the rest of her dress for her and she takes a step back to step out of the dress, free of it finally. He takes her in, and he lets out a shaky breath. "There," his voice comes out hoarse and strained.

"Thank you," she says, beginning to take off her bra before realizing he's still standing there. "What, sticking around for the show?" She giggles, beginning to unhook her bra.

He finally snaps out of it, "No, sorry." He laughs it off, walking out of the bathroom. He climbs into her bed after glancing at the clock, _11:59 pm. _He grimaces, _fuck. Maybe I can keep it in check this time? I really should have paid attention to Igneel all those years ago. _He buries himself underneath the duvet and faces the wall, _I can't look at her again, I'll lose it. I just have to try to go to sleep._ However, he can already feel the scales appearing on his face and arms, claws beginning to protrude instead of nails, and his canines sharpening. No matter how hard he tries to fight to keep it down, bury the raw and basic instinct, it's no use. He can feel it.

Lucy gets changed into her shorts that she wears to bed, and her cropped tank top. She walks out to see him already in her bed turned over facing the wall and she walks over to her nightstand and clicks off her lamp. Maybe she should've kept it on a little longer, then she would've seen, but she didn't. She pulls back the comforter and slides underneath, she sighs at the warmth Natsu's body emanates, and the job the comforter does to keep it locked inside. It's been a cold winter and she doesn't exactly mind having Natsu warm her bed tonight. She faces toward the edge of the bed, her back against his. She tucks the covers underneath her chin, smiling slightly at the burning in her belly and throat she can still feel from the alcohol, and the heat from Natsu. She can hear him shifting around and suddenly she feels his chest against her back, his arm slides around her waist and pulls her to him and he buries his face in the crook of her neck.

He inhales her scent, the dragon in him stronger this time around. _**Mate**_. He hears a voice in his head speak, not very unlike his own, deeper. He didn't know it would progress this fast, the presence of the dragon within him. He tightens his arm around her, and she touches it with her hands. She frowns to herself, feeling the scales, she traces each one with her fingertip, to his wrist. _What the hell is this? _She continues her exploration to his fingers, then to where his nails should be. Instead she feels sharp talon like objects, her eyes widen, and she twists her body around quickly to face him. She intakes a sharp and short breath, slit eyes staring back at her, gold and glowing. "Natsu?" He still holds her tight to his body, and she reaches a hand up and touches his face. She feels scales there too, moonlights graces her features, but shadows his. He can see a glimmer of fear in her eyes and a deep rumbling noise emits from his chest. Her hand snaps back from his face, feeling she may have angered him somehow. "I-Is this why you didn't want to stay?" Her voice trembles a bit, even though she tries to keep it steady.

Natsu's overcome with undeniable need for her, the dragon forcing its way through. He wants to respond to her, he wants to tell her the reason for this, but the words won't come out. Instead he's forced with the task of keeping his urges in check, his dragon screeching to be free, to do what it wants to her. He's in pain. This hunger is something he's never felt before, a gnawing, insatiable feeling. Like being starved out for weeks and then someone dangles a steak in front of you. Ravenous. This internal torment is tearing him apart inside and he can't seem to break free of it, not in a way with a good outcome. "Lucy," It comes out in a deep and breathless voice, "I can't hold it back for long." As he says the words, he feels his hold slipping. "Run," he pleads her, releasing her from his arms.

Lucy reaches behind her and turns on the lamp, "can you just tell me what's going on?" She turns back around to see him sweating, panting, like he's in a fight, but there's no one here but him and her. She now notices tiny horns peeking out from his mass of pink hair, the golden eyes no longer glowing because of the new light in the room, and his scales tinted red. "N-Natsu...?" She reaches up and touches the horns on his head, they're sharp and slightly twisted. "What's happening to you?"

She sees a begging look in his eye, like one last attempt to get her to flee, but she refuses to run from him. "**I told you to run.**" He flips them over so now he's on top of her, his body between her parted legs, her wrists tight in his hands and pressed against the bedding. "**Why didn't you just listen?**" His voice is dark, unfamiliar to her. To her, it's still Natsu. Natsu wouldn't hurt her.

"Because I'm not afraid of you," her eyes flicker to each of his own. "I could never be afraid of you. Is that what you're scared of, Natsu? That I'll be frightened by you?"

"**You will be**," his lips smash against hers and she gasps, but the second her lips part his tongue is inside to kiss her deeper, fuller. She squirms in his grip, trying to break the kiss, at this he bites her bottom lip and tugs at it. _Natsu, what are you doing? I know this isn't you. _He connects their lips again and she eventually responds to the kiss, like they're doing a dance and she lets him lead. She shuts her eyes and she can feel the urgent need he portrays, but at times it's softer, like he's fighting it.

"I don't know what's going on, but I know you can't control it and I can tell you're trying to fight it. You're still in there. I forgive you, Natsu. Don't hate yourself. Just try to fight it." The words are muffled by his lips, but she knows he can hear her. She just hopes it helps.

He breaks this kiss, but only to trail kisses down her jawline and to her neck. He licks softly, before placing a kiss on her neck and then another. He sucks at the skin, surely to cause a hickey, then bites at it without breaking the skin, just to make sure it lasts. Her breathing grows heavier, "Natsu, please. Fight it." Her back arches despite her words, her body already responding to him, and it infinitely confuses her. Yet, he knows why, she's his mate, it's meant to. He sucks on her earlobe and nibbles at it, and her face tingles all over. Her nipples are already hard and poking through her shirt, he releases one of her wrists to cup her breast, and he lightly runs his thumb over the sensitive bud. She lets out a barely audible moan, but he obviously hears it, so he pinches at it and she lets out a short whine. He grins against her neck, still sucking and nipping at it, and rolls the nipple around in his fingers. A soft, breathy groan escapes her lips, this widens his smirk and she can feel it against her. _Damn it, my own body is betraying me, it just feels so good. One of my hands is free, I could probably stop this right now, but Natsu's touch is setting me on fire and I honestly don't want it to stop. _

He kisses along the length of her collarbone, and then down. His lips trail to the rise of her chest and once he reaches the edge of her tank top, he releases her other hand now to pull the straps off her shoulders. He roughly tugs it down and her breasts are released from the tight cloth, he continues to play with her nipple with one hand. He licks the other one lightly, then blows on it. She whimpers, her back arching once more. He finally takes it in his mouth and sucks on it, not too hard. He flicks it with his tongue while it's still inside and swirls it around the bud. She moans and buries her fingers in his hair, giving in fully. She can hardly help it at this point, her body keeps begging for it, her mind going blank, not even willing to fight against it. His teeth nip at it and it sends shocks of pleasure through her. She bites her lip to suppress another moan, and he doesn't like this. He bites down, hard. She yelps, about to ask what he did that for until he answers the question for her, "**don't hold them back.**" He kisses at it, as if to make a booboo better, then sucks on it again. She obeys.

He then moves back up to kiss her lips again, the bulge in his boxers rubbing against her through her shorts. She moans at the feeling, his hard on brushing against her clit. She can feel the wetness in her shorts, he can smell it and it urges him on. However, he's still trapped inside, pleading for himself to stop. Even though she said she forgives him, she won't forgive him if he goes further. He feels like he's trying to pull the tracks on a bullet train, but the breaks are broken. He can feel everything, he can hear everything, see everything, but it's like it's not him doing this to her. He wants her so bad, but he's trying to stop for her sake. It makes it harder when her moans are all that he can hear, and he's the cause of it; Her arousal is all he can smell, and _he's the cause of it_. "Natsu," her voice cries out in a broken moan, it's all it takes for him to lose control once again.

He rubs his dick against her clit, and she breathily moans. His canines brush against her neck again, but this time, with the intent to mark her. _No! Don't, please. She has no idea what's going on, I can't just do that and her not know what that would mean._ He fights against his dragon again; he won't let this be the way it happens. _I can't chain her down for the rest of her life without telling her, then just drop it on her later. I'm begging you, stop. __**She's mate, she must be marked. **__I know, but not yet. Please. _His inner dragon growls in frustration, wanting to claim what is rightfully his. His hand tugs at her shorts, wanting to be rid of the space between. Her eyes shoot open, fear flashing in them briefly. Natsu sees it, still trapped, but fighting harder now. _She doesn't want this._ He shakes his head, a battle waging on the inside, he flings himself across the room with the slight moment he was able to take over. He crouches on the ground, his hands yanking at his hair. _Go away, don't you dare make me force her._ He groans at the pain in his head and hunches over, Lucy sits up and swings her legs over the edge of the bed. She pulls up the straps of her top in a hurry and she begins to head over to see if he's alright. "No! Don't come any closer." He warns her and raises his eyes to her large brown ones, wide with concern. She can see his eyes flickering between his pale forest green eyes and the gold ones of a dragon. "I don't want to hurt you."

His eyes switch between the two colors again and again, his limbs sweating and shaking at his battle with himself. Lucy's never seen him like this, the unbearable pain written on his face. She wants to go over and comfort him, but this time she heeds his warning, and stays back. Eventually the flickering stops and all that's left is green eyes, he slowly stands up, using the wall to support his weight. She rushes over once he nods his head that it's okay, and she places his arm around her neck to help him to the bed. She helps him down and he stretches out on her bed, "are you okay?" She whispers carefully, as if she's afraid to say the wrong thing for fear he'd break.

"No," he replies almost silently, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I'm so sorry," he looks like he's about to cry and her eyes soften. He runs a hand over his face, "I forced you and I'm sorry. I couldn't control it, and I had to fight so hard just to keep from-" he cuts himself off, looking like he might be sick to his stomach.

She sits down next to his head, her legs crossed together. "It's okay, you didn't mean to, you weren't yourself." She runs a hand through his sweaty hair, noticing the horns are still there, along with everything else. She grabs onto a horn, "what is this, Natsu? What's happening?"

He clears his throat, "this happens to every dragon slayer. Once a dragon slayer is mature enough, it's inner dragon develops. Sometimes it'll take over to get what it wants, even by force if necessary. Dragons are very greedy creatures, they want what they want and get what they want, or they get mad." He avoids the topic about her being his mate, not knowing if she's ready enough to hear that information. It's a lot to process that your single days are over, for good.

"And it wants me?" Lucy's brow furrows in confusion, looking at him. "Why?"

"Have you seen yourself, Lucy? You're fucking hot." Natsu lies about the true answer, but it wasn't exactly a lie, Lucy laughs. "There's more stuff, but it gets complicated."

"Well, I'm glad you told me at least this much. You can tell me the rest when you're ready to." She shrugs, sipping some of the water on her nightstand, her head beginning to ache.

"Also, can you change your shorts? I can still smell how wet you are." He smirks, teasing her.

She smacks his chest, gasping in fake offense and then laughing. "Fuck you, asshole. I'm not the one who's basically about to pop out of my boxers." She slides off the bed again, snatching joggers off her dresser and heading to the bathroom.

When she comes back out, he's already fast asleep and snoring. She smiles a bit, _there's the old Natsu_.

**A/N Thank you for leaving reviews, I love them c: Also, this book is going to be really sexual, so beware if you don't want that. Oops **


	3. Please Read - Faster Update or LemmeEdit

**-****Please Read****-**

Important stuff written in bold

**I know, very disappointing that this isn't a chapter, but one's coming either tonight or early tomorrow.**

**I have most of Chapter Three already written, but I'm actually kind of unhappy with it and I feel like I could do better things with it. **

**Leave a review and **_**let me know if you want the chapter faster, or if you're okay with waiting for me to finish rewriting a lot to make it better.**_

(you don't have to read this part if you don't want, the bold stuff is just the important stuff):

Thank you for all of the reviews, it honestly motivates me to write more and post faster c:

If you have anything you would love to see happen in this book, you can leave a review and I'll consider it. Anything for you guys c;

Anyways, thank you so much for reading, I appreciate the fuck out of you.


	4. Chapter 3 - Jealousy and a Job

**Mine**

Chapter Three

_(A/N) I didn't rewrite it, just kinda added stuff, so it's still really shitty in the beginning and middle, but the end is okay ig. Enjoy, loves c:_

_2:00 pm_

"Natsu?" Lucy creaks open the door to his house to find it pitch black, she takes a few hesitant steps in and she hears a low growl from the corner. Her feet halt in their movements and she freezes, her back going stiff at the noise. "N-Natsu?" She squints to see through the darkness, begging her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. "I came to find you because you weren't in my apartment or at the guild. Wendy wants to go on a mission with all of us." She says slow and steady, careful, as if not to anger him.

"Go away," she hears his voice speak again, and she's relieved to hear that it sounds like normal. "Lucy, go away." She stands still despite the warning tone in his voice, her feet planted firmly on the ground. His fist slams against the wall and she jumps, "why do you have to be so damn stubborn?"

"What's wrong, Natsu?" She keeps her voice steady, despite her rising heartbeat. If it weren't for the front door left ajar, she would be encased in complete darkness, she still can't make out his figure huddled in the corner. "Please talk to me," she whispers.

"What's wrong?" He lets out a dry laugh before rising from his crouched position, slowly walking towards the light. "Is that I still look like this," he walks fully into view and her eyes widen. "Why the fuck do I still look like this?!" He shouts, his hand slamming a dirty dish off the table, causing it to shatter on the floor into tiny pieces. It's all still there, except his horns are a little longer, his scales redder, and his eyes are still his normal pale green shade. He pulls at his hair before resting his palms on the wooden table, his head hanging low in defeat.

"Oh my god," she breathes, stepping forward. While his back is turned towards her, she sees two enlarged bumps protruding out, still under the surface of the skin. She traces it lightly with her fingers on his bare skin and he flinches, "what are these?"

"Best guess? Wings." He shakes his head in disbelief, "I can't go in public like this. Much less, a mission with everyone." He shuts his front door, turning on the light in his house.

"Why not? You've never really cared about your physical appearance all that much," Lucy laughs, but regrets it. "It's just extra physical features added on."

Natsu turns around and walks briskly towards her, the pace makes her stumble back until she's against the wall. His hand rests on the wall beside her head, "It's _not _just the physical features that are still stuck around." His eyes flash gold and morph into slits for a moment and she gulps, realizing what he means. "If we all go on a mission, and just the slightest thing ticks me off… If Gray says anything to you, if someone looks at you a certain way. It's over for them." A growl lingers in the back of his throat, and she knows what he says is true.

"I guess we could go without you, and you stay home until it blows over. Wendy was just really sad we haven't all gone on a mission together in a while, you and I have been doing missions alone, Erza's been going off by herself, and Gray hasn't even been going on missions. Now, Erza's back, and Gray has agreed to go." Lucy shrugs, just trying to find a solution.

"Staying home isn't an option, the second twelve hits and I lose control, I'll just end up coming for you. If you're sharing a room with someone, it might be just a _little _hard to explain." Natsu brushes her pale blond hair out of her face.

"So, come with. We share a room, no explanation needed." She notes how his face is dangerously close to hers, yet she doesn't say or do anything about it. "They're our friends, they won't ask about the dragon shit if you ask them not to."

"What's the mission?" His nose brushes against hers, he licks his lips and her eyes flicker down to them for a moment before fixing back on his eyes.

"Just taking care of a large group of Vulcans who have been terrorizing the village. Shouldn't take too long, but the weather has been… unpredictable… there..." She says the words but becomes a little too distracted to even remember what she was saying, and the look on his face conveys that he has too. She can feel his lips brush against hers, parting them, his eyes switch to gold before he shuts them, yet she still lets her eyelids flicker shut. His tongue licks her top lip, teasing her, prompting her forward. As if looking to see if she'll kiss him on her own. She almost does it, without thought, but then there's a loud banging on his front door.

Natsu curses under his breath, slamming his hand on the wall before pushing himself away from it with the same one. He heads to his room and when he emerges, he's put on a long sleeve shirt, a cloak with the hood pulled over his horns, and old brown leather gloves. He can't hide the scales on his face very well, but this should suffice to hide everything else. He opens the door and there stands their other teammates. Wendy's eyes shoot open wide when she sees the state Natsu's in, knowing full well what's going on, but he shakes his head for her to keep quiet. She frowns at the fact he's decided to keep it a secret. "We got tired of waiting for you two, lets head out." Erza then says with a lighter tone, "it's good to see the two of you again."

"You too, Erza." Natsu nods, stepping out of his house, holding the door open for Lucy as well before locking it behind her. The whole walk to the train station, Erza talked about her mission, dragging along her large cart full of belongings. Wendy was thrilled that everyone was together again, laughing along with Erza as she tells her story. Natsu doesn't seem in a very good mood, and Gray drags along, sunglasses covering his eyes because of his hangover. Lucy jogs a bit to catch up to Natsu, hoping it'll put him in a better mood. Thankfully, it does. He finds her looking at him, examining his face with a slight frown and he ruffles her hair. "Don't worry about me, Luce. I'm okay." At this, she smiles, and he returns it easily.

When they arrive at the train station, it's overcrowded, and she grabs onto his sleeve to keep from losing him. The second they step through the train doors; he shakes off her hand only to hold it in his own, and she concludes it's for moral support when he says something along the lines of: 'I wish we could've just walked.' They make it to their seats and Erza, Gray, and Wendy sit across from them. Now that they can all see Natsu's face clearly, Gray asks, "dude, what's up with your face?" He squints, leaning forward to look at the scales on it.

"It's nothing, butt out, Gray." Natsu grumbles, dismissing the question.

"No, I want to know too," Erza commands more than asks. "What is it?"

"You see, there comes a time in every dragon slayers life where they become mature. That's when-" Natsu begins sarcastically and Erza doesn't let him finish.

"Okay, okay, I get it. It's private." She raises her hands in the air, not wanting to hear anymore. Wendy stays silent, fidgeting, wanting to say something, but Natsu shoots her a warning glance.

"Ah, so Natsu is finally growing up." Gray grins at this prime opportunity to tease him. "I was wondering when he would graduate from his tweens," he chuckles. Natsu feels a deep rumbling rising in his chest, wanting to make him shut up. Instead of bursting out in anger, the train lurches forward and he immediately gets sick. "Damn it, Natsu. Every time. Don't you get used to it at some point?"

Natsu just scowls back at him, and Lucy lets him lay his head in her lap as he pulls his knees to his chest. He shoots her a grateful look and she just shakes her head, "no problem." She gazes out the window at the landscape speeding by, her fingers absentmindedly burying into the tendrils of his hair and she plays with it. His body instantly relaxes, and the tension in his brow lessens. After a while, Erza goes to the food car to see if they have any strawberry cake, and Wendy begins dozing off. Lucy's hands find his horns and they explore them curiously, to her, they kind of feel how you'd expect a bone to feel. They trail down to where it meets his scalp and she frowns when she feels scabs around the base where they pushed out from his skull. _That must've hurt_.

"He has horns too?" Gray asks once he hears Natsu snoring, seeing her play with them.

"Yeah, among other things, but he wouldn't have hidden everything if he didn't mind people knowing about it." She covers his horns back up, pulling the hood fully over again.

"What's happening to him?" He may not admit it, but he's still Natsu's friend, even if they hate each other on a certain level.

She sighs, "all he told me is that his inner dragon is developing. It makes him act different, it's sort of him, but not him and he can't control his actions. This isn't supposed to show on the outside during the day, only at around midnight and by morning it's gone, and his inner dragon is basically dormant. However, for some reason, it was still there when he woke up in the morning and so was his inner dragon." She picks at the piece of his hair she can't seem to move out of his face, she feels kind of guilty, knowing he might not want that information told. They're just going to ask again at some point though, and if he acts out later, at least someone else will know what's going on. Especially if he ends up attacking Gray, it's helpful for him to know.

"So, basically, the dragon slayer version of puberty?" Gray almost snickers, but he stops himself, seeing the concerned look on her face.

"I guess, he wouldn't tell me more than that." She shrugs, tracing his scales with her fingers. "I'm going to try to take a nap," she says before tilting her head back and closing her eyes, feeling exhausted suddenly.

_7:00 pm_

Four hours later, Lucy's being shaken awake by Natsu and her eyes flutter open. "Hm?" She mutters sleepily, rubbing one of her eyes with the back of her hand before yawning.

"We're here, the train's stopped." She stretches at his words before standing up, popping her neck and back. Usually, it's her waking him up when the train stops, but she just felt so tired. She follows him as he's basically bouncing off the walls to get off the train. When they're finally off, he falls onto the ground, hugging it. "I missed you, ground." He states with a wide grin and he lets out a happy sigh.

"I feel like we should give those two some alone time." Gray points between the ground and Natsu, walking ahead with Erza and Wendy. Lucy waits for Natsu to get up before following. Erza decided it would be best to get the hotel rooms and set their things inside before doing the job when they arrived there, saying something about it looking like there's a storm ahead and not wanting it to ruin her precious belongings. When they arrive at the hotel, Erza goes up to the desk to talk to the receptionist.

Gray is finally having Wendy heal his hangover, "sorry it took so long, I had to recharge a lot after having to heal Lucy's." She apologizes to him, and Lucy laughs at her comment.

Erza comes back with three keycards, "They only had three rooms left, Wendy and I can share, who else?" She holds the cards up in her hand, up for grabs.

"I can share with Lucy," Gray smirks, snatching one of them.

"In your fucking dreams," Natsu grabs the remaining keycard and takes hold of Lucy's wrist, dragging her to the elevators. Erza and Wendy look at each other and then at Gray, two out of three of them confused. Natsu's inner dragon has been saying things in his head, but he thanks god that he hasn't fully taken over yet. Otherwise, that would've ended a little messier. When the doors shut behind them, he relaxes a little more. He's been tense all day.

"You could've said that in like a thousand different nicer ways," Lucy rests her back against the wall of the elevator, raising an eyebrow at him. Her thumb taps on the metal pole, "I know we have to get a room together, but you didn't have to be mean to our teammate to get it."

He grips the metal pole with both hands on either side of her body and leans in, "I most definitely did." He whispers, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear. Natsu can feel his eyes changing to the dragon's as he takes her earlobe between his teeth and tugs at it. _**Mine**_. The dragon speaks in his head and he pulls away from her while he still can and the elevator dings as they've reached their floor. He strides out, twirling the keycard in his fingers, leaving Lucy in the elevator, her stomach doing somersaults. She follows him a few moments after, when she pulls herself together.

It's really strange for her, her best friend suddenly acting like he wants to devour every inch of her being. It's different, that's for sure. She feels like she's beginning to give into his inner dragon, and it's kind of scaring her. When he touches her, even barely, it takes over her. It's like she's surrounded by fire with no escape. It's hard to fight, part of her doesn't even want to. But she remembers his face and the look of anguish last night when he finally won the battle against his inner dragon, knowing he did those things to her, forced her, he was devastated. She doesn't want to see that look on his face again, no matter how good it feels. _I don't want him to hate himself for something he can't control. _

She doesn't realize how deep in thought she was until she's setting her bag on the bed already. "There's only one bed," she realizes, frowning.

Natsu plops himself down on it, "you were going to climb into mine anyways once you got cold." Natsu chuckles, and her slightly pink face tells him that he's right.

"Maybe, shut up." She rolls her eyes, not being able to stop herself from smiling at his teasing. "It's not my fault that you're a portable heater in a place our mission took us, which is so cold, that it snows almost all year round." She gestures to the raging snowstorm outside the hotel window.

"The hotel has heaters," the corners of his lips turn up and he pushes the hood off his head.

"This crappy hotel's heaters couldn't melt an ice cube, don't act like it can warm a whole ass person." She hops on the bed as well, laying back, and tries to shove him off playfully.

He saves himself last minute from falling off, then grabs her arm and jerks her towards him. "Don't act like you haven't just gotten used to me sleeping in your bed all the time," a challenge sparks in his eyes, their faces only inches apart.

"Well, maybe if you hadn't been sneaking into my bed for years, I wouldn't have." She punches his arm, putting the blame on him.

"Oh, so you _have _just gotten used to me sleeping in your bed?" He digs his fingers into her sides to tickle her and she squeals, squirming to get away. "You love it, just admit it."

The assault to her ribs from his fingers makes her laugh so hard, tears begin brimming the bottom of her eyelids. "Please, stop," she ends up gasping out between fits of giggles.

"Admit it first," he's glad he put on the gloves otherwise he'd be scratching her instead.

"Okay, I do! Just make it stop," she begs, and he finally stops his attack. She finally gets a breath of fresh air and she turns to lay her back, "I hate you."

"Lies," he jabs her in the rib once more and she backhands his chest. "Ow, that hurt."

"Good, that's what you get for tickling me." She turns over, facing away from him, pretending to be mad at him.

"Luuucy," he sings, but she doesn't turn back around. "Oh, Luuucy." He does it again, but she still ignores him. He wraps an arm and pulls her back towards him, until she's fully pressed against him, trapped in his arm. "Lucyy," he whispers into her ear, the same kind of tone but shorter. He nuzzles his face into her neck, "stop ignoring me," he whines. "Or I'm gonna have to make you," his tone grows darker with those words and he leaves a light kiss on her neck, a soft, shaky breath escapes her.

There's a knock on the door and Erza's voice sounds through, "we've got to get going on our mission."

Natsu lets out a groan, "does she have some kind of radar or something?" He climbs off the bed and she follows suit, grabbing her jacket and wrapping it around herself before walking after him towards the door and she slides her arms through the sleeves.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Lucy mumbles as Natsu pulls his hood over to cover his horns once again before opening the door. Erza's already collected everyone, and once they join the group, they're good to go. As they walk, Natsu walks beside Lucy with his hand resting on the small of her back, underneath her jacket. His thumb caresses the exposed skin between the hem of her shirt and her leggings, he must've taken off his glove, because all she feels is the pad of his thumb sending shivers up her spine. _Why the hell is he so touchy-feely today? _The constant change in his behavior is beginning to confuse her even more about this whole situation. _Is it because his inner dragon isn't completely dormant? _She just wishes she knew more about this kind of thing, the one who can tell her more is right here, but it all seems like such a private thing. He won't tell her more than what he already has, and she feels like she shouldn't push it.

They all exit the hotel and Natsu's hand leaves her to put on his glove again, not wanting to scare the villagers. It hurts him a little inside, he's never really thought of himself as scary until now. He doesn't want to have to look like a monster. _**Not monster, dragon. It's who you are. **_His inner dragon speaks once again, and he's angry at it. He hasn't been able to fully be himself today, Gray tries to get a room with Lucy and ever since he's been touching on her, being all over her. It's a natural instinct for a dragon when a male goes after his mate, it's a sign of possession. He can't even help it at this point, his inner dragon intentions mixing with his own. He doesn't want to lose Lucy and there's this unsettling fear beginning to weigh on his shoulders: _what if she's just going along with it because she feels like she has to? That she doesn't want me, but she feels an obligation to me, like she owes a debt to me, for always saving her. _He shakes it off, he can't think such things.

The group makes their long trek up the snowy mountain, the blizzard fighting their every step. The cold, harsh, winter air prickles at Lucy's skin and she wishes she wore a thicker jacket, even though this is the thickest one she has. It doesn't get this freezing in Mongolia, not even close. Wendy slips in the snow and almost falls down, Lucy catches her arm and helps her back up, then wrapping an arm around her to keep her steady. Wendy is the lightest out of all of them, it's a shock she hasn't been flung off the mountain. "How much farther?" Lucy calls to Erza, most of her voice getting stolen by the wind.

"They should be right here, I don't understand." Erza looks at the map the mayor of the small village gave her to show the location of the Vulcans. It gets blown out of her hands and she curses, "what the hell are we going to do now?"

Gray is about to answer her before a roar pierces their eardrums, they look to the cliff above them and Vulcans begin dropping down. "Now, the party's getting started." A grin grows on his face, making his stance, everyone in his vicinity gets at least ten times colder. "Ice-make: Prison!" He shouts, trapping a few, then finishes them off with an Ice Make Hammer. Erza pulls out her Heaven's Wheel armor, and the last thing some more see, are swords flying straight at their faces. Erza bends low, sprinting at a new group that dropped, she slices them in half at one go. On the other side of the ledge, Wendy and Natsu destroy one group after another. Lucy summons Virgo to create holes between some of the Vulcans and they fall to their death.

Natsu is doing the most damage, sending them flying over in hoards, down to the bottom of the ravine. Their screeches echo, the other Vulcans fear for their life now. "Fire Dragon: Roar!" The fire builds in his stomach and he gets ready to kill the last one on his side, until he sees what the Vulcan is holding in his filthy hands, or more like who. The fire dies in his throat, his eyes focus on her, and her alone. The Vulcan has his giant hand around her fragile neck, just a little pressure and he could snap it like a twig. Her eyes squeeze tight in pain, tearing at his fingers to release her, her body squirming in midair. "Me like woman," hearts appear over his eyes. Natsu prepares to fire a shot at him, wanting him to get away from his Lucy. The Vulcan stretches his arm out and now Lucy dangles over the steep drop. She no longer squirms, grabbing at his hand for fear he'll drop her. The Vulcan grins at Natsu's predicament, if he takes a shot at him, he drops Lucy. If he doesn't, he gets away with her.

"Damn it," Natsu glowers. The Vulcan leaps up, Lucy in hand. He hops away with her, Lucy squeaks, trying to yell for Natsu, but there's no room in her throat to.

"Go after her, I'll help the others." Wendy looks over her shoulder at him, holding back three by herself. She shakes her head to herself; _he should just tell her that she's his mate, it's pretty obvious to anyone who knows anything about mating season. However, I guess it is his decision. I wonder if he even knows he still looks like that because his inner dragon is stronger than most, and the longer he waits to mark her, the more it's going to take over him. Until the rational side, the part of him everyone from Fairy Tail knows and loves, is completely gone. He's acting foolish._

"Thank you," he nods, following after the trail the Vulcan left behind. He clambers over rocks covered in ice, his hands and feet slip, but he refuses to fall. _Why is it always Lucy that gets taken? _He curses silently, hating that she's always the one in danger. He glances behind him and is glad to know that his teammates are holding their own because there's only one thing he's even capable of focusing on right now, and that's getting to Lucy.

Lucy wonders where the Vulcan is taking her and he has this perverted grin on his face, it disgusts her. She struggles to breathe through his fist around her neck, _why does it always have to be me? _She swings her legs up, kicking his arm so he'll drop her. She tries again and it fails, she's just about given up when she's tossed on the ground. She eyes her surroundings, it's an ice cavern, at least it's warmer than out in the blizzard. Once she's free from his grasp, she calls on a friend for help. "Open, Gate of the Lion. Leo!" Meanwhile, the Vulcan was in the corner excitedly dancing, chanting 'woman' repeatedly.

Gold shimmers from her key and he appears before her, "what can I do for you, princess?" He lazily throws his arm around her shoulders, and it was as if there were sparkles around him as he shoots a charming smile at her.

She rolls her eyes, "you've been talking with Virgo again, haven't you? She's got you calling me that too?" She rubs her forehead in frustration, Loke just shakes his head.

"No, I decided to call you princess all on my own, after all, you are as beautiful as one." His flirting annoys her given the situation she's in.

"We don't have time for this right now, I need your help to beat up that perverted Vulcan, please." She gestures to the ugly and lumbering creature, who's just now noticing Loke's presence.

"One knocked out pervert, coming right up." His fists glow golden and he leaps into the air and socks the oversized monkey in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. A crack in the ice splits across the cave floor from the impact, Lucy has to stumble backwards in order to avoid falling in.

The Vulcan growls and stands back up with a loud and angry shout, "my woman!"

"Your woman? I've been working on getting Lucy for years, if she's anyone's, she's mine." He dodges the Vulcan's attack and lands one of his own, sending him flying across the cavern. A large bump appears on his head and he slumps over against the wall, his last hit finishing the job more quickly than expected. Loke dusts off his hands, "that was easy." He straightens out his suit jacket and turns on his heel to face Lucy again, "anything else I can service you with, gorgeous?"

"That'll be all Loke, thank you." Right as she says the words, Natsu climbs through the small entrance to the cavern. The roof knocks off his hood, and Loke examines his horns with a bemused face.

"Oh, good, you're alright." Natsu dusts the snow off his jacket, "what's he doing here?" He flings the hood back over after noticing Loke's stare.

"I rescued the princess, job well done." Loke puffs out his chest, proud of his accomplishment. Lucy pats his head in praise, and he looks a little too happy about it for Natsu's liking. He shoves his hands in his pockets and turns his head away as if to ignore the feeling in his gut.

"See, I can take care of myself sometimes." Lucy smiles, happy that this time she didn't even need Natsu to save her. "I can always count on my celestial spirits to help me out."

"If you need me to help you out again later, when you're alone, feel free to call." Loke winks at her and Natsu growls at the meaning of Loke's words, and he holds his hands up in mock surrender, backing away from the dragon slayer a bit.

"Um, thanks but no thanks?" She replies to his comment before shutting his gate. Loke's body shimmers gold and he passes back over to the spirit world, his body disappearing from the room. "I swear, Loke hasn't changed a bit. He will always be a flirt, even in battle." Lucy begins walking towards the entrance with Natsu in tow. He sulks a bit, _why did she have to call _him_?_

_11:00 pm_

After they finished the mission, they all took long, hot showers and headed to a local pub to drink. They just had a very successful mission, why wouldn't they blow off some steam by drinking? They got their reward already and split it among themselves, Lucy's just happy she got rent money, and Gray's just happy he got drinking money. He hadn't been on a mission in a long while, and his funds were running a little low. "I'll take another long island iced tea," Lucy orders from the bartender.

"Lucy, damn, that's your fifth one," Gray chuckles, sipping on his whiskey, twirling the ice cubes in his glass.

"Don't tell me how to drink," she flicks him in the forehead. "I'm a big girl, I can handle it." She says while already slurring her words.

He puts out his cigarette and leans closer, "baby, you _were_ handling it fine, up until the third one."

"Don't call me baby," she frowns and shortly after, her drink arrives, she takes a gulp out of it. Her frown dissipates once she does, the familiar texture of alcohol burning in her belly, but going smoothly down her throat from being a mixed drink.

"Gray, leave her alone, if she wants to get drunk, let her get drunk." Erza finishes her glass and orders another vodka cranberry. "Lucy's a grown woman, who are you, her dad?" Erza's a little drunk as well, they all are. Except Wendy decided to go to sleep when we stopped off at the hotel. The real reason was that she didn't want to have to watch what was coming tonight.

"I mean, she's sharing a room with Natsu, and she's getting drunk. Maybe he'll take advantage of her." Gray shrugs, accusing Natsu half-heartedly. "Who knows?"

"What, you mean like how Lucy told you to stop touching her when she was drunk at Levy's party, and you didn't?" Natsu shoots back at him, his eyes sharp and narrow.

"You did what?" Erza hovers over Gray, her face dark. She smacks him in the back of the head, her metal armor still on. "Bad." It makes a _thunk_ noise and Gray's head lands on the bar.

"Ow, that fucking hurt." Gray rubs the back of his head tenderly. "I apologized to her already."

"That doesn't make it alright," Natsu grumbles, taking a swig of his drink.

"It's fine," Lucy tilts her glass up, prompting more alcohol to come out, she waves the topic away with her hand. "I'm used to sexual harassment by now," she whispers under her breath and Gray doesn't hear, resting her chin in her palm. She didn't mean to say it, but it's mostly true. It's kind of sad once she thinks about it, _guys can be disgusting_. There are few nice guys out there, but she's never really had the best luck with any. Maybe that's why she's still single at twenty, she attracts the wrong kind of guy every time.

Natsu frowns at her words, being the only one who heard her, and downs the rest of his glass. "See? She says it's fine." Gray says before lighting another cigarette, Natsu grunts in response. _Why does Lucy always do this, pretends like some things don't bother her when it's obvious that it does. Well, obvious to me at least. Gray doesn't see a damn thing._

"Why isn't Wendy here?" Lucy turns to Erza, crossing one of her legs over the other and avoiding continuing that conversation.

"One, she's underage. Two, she was really tired. Which honestly, sleep doesn't sound so bad. I might go back soon." Erza yawns, wiping the tired out of her eyes.

"No, please don't leave me alone with them." Lucy slurs, practically begging her. "They never get along; they make it impossible to just enjoy my drink." She lays her head on Erza's shoulder and she notices Gray and Natsu are arguing even now, "plus, we haven't talked in a while." Her head shoots up when her brain remembers what she was going to ask her about, she's heard rumors, but she wants it confirmed. "How's Jellal," a sly smile spreads across her face, while Erza's turns just as red as her hair.

"U-Um, I don't know what you're talking about." She stutters, her eyes darting to the side. Lucy kind of needs a distraction right now, and this works just fine. She hasn't talked boys with Erza in ages anyways, and she has reason to believe she slept with Jellal.

_Erza never stutters, this is so pure. _Lucy grins, nudging her. "Come on, you have to give me all the nasty details." Lucy plops her face in her hands, eagerly waiting. "I know when you went on your mission, he showed up. Word is, you spent the night together." Lucy's fingers tap against her chin, enjoying the fact Erza turns into a blubbering mess when Jellal is mentioned.

Erza's face grows an even darker shade of red, "how'd you hear about that?"

"Didn't know for sure, but now I do." Lucy finishes her drink once again, definitely feeling it more now. She wobbles a bit, grabbing the sides of the stool for a moment to balance herself. "So, you and Jellal finally fucked, huh? You don't have to be embarrassed, not like we couldn't all see it coming." Lucy almost orders another drink, then changes her mind. _I'm already too drunk. _"Besides, you're the one who introduced me to those steamy ass books. Don't be acting all innocent," Lucy slides her finger around the rim of her empty glass.

Erza finally recomposes herself, "alright, yes, we did." Lucy claps her hands, happy for her. "It was really nice," a small smile tugs at her lips as she looks at her hands, as if she was remembering it.

"Damn, Erza, that's all I get?" Lucy jokes with her, "I want you to like describe it in full on erotica novel mode. I need details, how big was he?" Lucy doesn't really care how big Jellal's penis is, but all girls are at least a little curious to know how big or small someone is. When Lucy's drunk, she has no filter and she doesn't really care that she has none. Plus, they talk about sexual things together all the time anyways. It mostly began with the books.

Erza yawns again, "let's talk about this tomorrow. I need to catch some sleep; I woke up early as hell this morning and it's almost midnight now." Erza slides off her barstool, steadying herself by keeping her hand on the bar until she finds her footing. "Goodnight, Lucy. Don't stay out too late." Erza stumbles out and Lucy's brow furrows, there's something she's forgetting.

There's a crash behind her and Lucy shoots around, wanting to know what happened. She sees Gray on the floor, his nose a little bloody from a blow to the face, the rest of the blood on Natsu's fist as he stands over him. The way Natsu's chest rises and falls raggedly exhibits that he's fuming over something Gray probably said no doubt, but this wasn't playfighting, not by a long shot. "I know you're going through a hard time right not, but get your shit together," Natsu's jaw tightens repeatedly, as if holding back from doing more damage. "You're acting like a dick to the people who care about you, Lucy most of all. Juvia wouldn't want this for you."

Gray spits out blood to the side and it lands on the wooden floor, "don't you dare mention her name." Gray's eyes narrow, his fist tightening, staggering up and getting ready to take a swing. Lucy steps in front of Natsu, holding her arms out to keep them from reaching each other. Gray's fist keeps going but stops just mere centimeters from her face, like he decided last second not to just let it land. He lets his arm drop to the side, "move."

"I'm taking Natsu back to the hotel, we'll leave you be. Just stop this, please. Everyone in the team cares about you, and we hate seeing you like this. Take this time to think about how you're acting." Lucy's eyes are hard, and she takes Natsu's wrist, dragging him from the bar with slight resistance on his end. He wanted to go back and beat the shit out of him for what he said, but for Lucy's sake, he won't. They both step out into the cold; Lucy hugs her jacket tighter around her body and the pub door creaks shut behind them. The blizzard has gotten worse and Lucy has to squint to protect her eyes from the assault of wind and snow. It's dark and so freezing that it chills you to the bone, the streets appear empty and lonely; it reminds her of Gray for a moment. He hasn't been the same since Juvia died.

He finally opened up his guarded walls for her, let her into his heart he encased in ice just to protect it from any more pain. He let her in. Only for her to be ripped away from existence. She understands why he acts the way he acts, the constant suffering he feels inside. This void left where his heart used to be and attempting to fill it up with liquor and pleasure, because it hurts too much to just stop and feel the anguish inside. He's in pain. She doesn't know if he can survive this, it already feels like they've lost him.

Before she realizes it, a tear is streaking down her face. Her feet stop moving and she looks up to the sky, the snowflakes land on her face and melt. She shuts her eyes and just stands still amidst the raging storm.

The blanket of silence and only the sound of the howling wind accompanying it, shatters when Natsu drops to his knees on the ground in pain. He lets out a shriek of agony as he hunches over, his arms reaching over his shoulders to scratch at his back. He yanks his cape off, it only causing more pain from keeping him confined, and Lucy is now able to see why he's hurting. Her eyes grow wide at the sight before her, the two bumps protruding from his back are now breaking out of the skin, and she can see the blood through his long sleeve shirt. He paws at it, trying to get it off, but it's stuck. He cries out, and she doesn't know what she can do to help, maybe help him with his shirt? However, the second she tries to help, she doesn't need to anymore because it's torn into shreds.

All she can do is watch in horror as large red, leathery wings slowly break through his skin. He screeches, holding onto the snow as if it'd help somehow, and she drops to her knees as well at the horrid scene laid before her. They rip through his skin like it's tissue paper, blood oozes out of the fresh wounds. Natsu heaves, struggling to breathe through it. Then, they unfurl. They're huge, dark red, with spikes at the bends and at the tips. Dragon's wings. He's trembling, every muscle in his body twitching and convulsing. Until, suddenly, he's eerily still. "N-Natsu?" Lucy whispers, reaching forward to touch him on the shoulder, anything, to see if he's okay. Her wrists gets captured in his hand, he moved so fast she didn't even see it. His head snaps up and the dragon's eyes stare back at her, she shudders at slit pupils boring into her.

Once her legs listen to her brain, she stands up clumsily, breaking her wrist out of his grasp. She stumbles backwards as a growl emits from his throat, striking fear through her. He slowly rises, he stretches his wings out and pops his back. _His dragon's taken over, I forgot this would happen. _Something tells her Natsu isn't going to be able to fight it this time, so for his sake, so she doesn't have to see that look on his face again, she turns and sprints away down the street. She hears the flap of his wings and her head tilts back to see him in the sky, she gasps and sharply turns into the alley that they took as a shortcut to the bar. She almost makes it to the other said when she hears a thud behind her. She turns on her heel and he's landed, getting closer to her by the second. Her heart hammers in her ribcage and the cold air stings her lungs with every breath.

The slits narrow, it's almost as if he wasn't even human anymore, his breathing ragged. One instinct on his mind. With every step forward he took, she took one back, her pulse throbbing wildly at the thought of what would happen to her when he catches up to her inevitably due to the fear pumping through her veins creating a level of immobility. The boy she has grown to know inside and out is nowhere to be found, it's his body, his face, but this is not Natsu. It can't be. Lucy is slammed against the wall by the beast in front of her, an insatiable hunger fueling him. Her arms are pinned against the wall, and the sharp claws protruding from his fingers are piercing into her skin. "Natsu-" her cry of pain is cut off when her lips are assaulted with his own. It isn't soft, it isn't caring like last time, it's full of pure and raw carnal desire. His body keeps her trapped against the wall, and the heat radiating from him is nearly too much to bear. He releases her lips, but only to lick the underside of her jaw. She shudders at the feeling, and his breath caresses the side of her neck before nipping at her earlobe, sending shivers down her spine. He kisses down her neck, and sucks at the skin and leaves the spot with a stinging sensation.

"Mine." He growls, holding her wrists tighter. She feels him hard against her as his hips ever so slightly push against her, she struggles against him, but can't deny the pooling between her legs. He can smell her arousal and every ounce of him is screaming to take her, but a small part of him begs for himself not to. However, that part of him is beginning to shrink with every passing moment. His canines brush against the skin of her neck, ready to bite down and claim her. Making her be his, and his alone.

**(A/N) Remember in the beginning of the first chapter, this happened and then it goes to 5 days earlier, well, we're back guys c:**

**Review and let me know what you want, cause I just might make this fanfic dark and twisty asf, who knows c:**

**Next chapter gon be **_**spicy**_** as fUCK. Stay tuned c;**


	5. NEW STORY: PLEASE READ

**NEW STORY**

I hate to do this to you, but this story is on **temporary** hiatus.

I will eventually either continue or rewrite this story so that I can make it much better.

Meanwhile, I have a new story that I am pretty excited about. It's a Storm Fullbuster x Nashi Dragneel fanfiction

I have it posted on Wattpad

TITLE: melt • stashi fanfic

My username is: corrupted-heart

Summary on Wattpad:

Nashi Dragneel and Storm Fullbuster, fire and ice. They've never mixed well; they're always butting heads and fighting until they can't stand up straight anymore. All that passion in their hatred for one another, but is there something underlying beneath?

(WARNING: lots of smut and foul language)

Summary that I'll give to you since I love you all c:

Nashi Dragneel has always been raised to hate Storm Fullbuster, ever since her mother died and her father blamed Gray for the fatal mistake on a job that he made that caused their suffering. What happens when she begins to have dirty dreams about Storm, what will happen when she finds out what causes them? That she's actually in heat and she finds herself wanting Storm to cool her off.

After I finish chapter 5, or possibly chapter 10, I will post the story on as well, but for now if you want to read the 3 long chapters I have out right now, look it up on Wattpad c:

EXTRA DETAILS:

The story is a bit of a love triangle, but the main ship in the end will be Storm and Nashi c:

**I LOVE YOU ALL PLEASE DON'T HATE ME**


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